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BC Partners' bigger problem is that the entire debt is due between this summer and September 2013 and therefore has to be refinanced.

It is likely the private-equity firm, which faced a similar debt issue with Foxtons, the estate agents, will have to inject more capital into the company as well as ask banks to take a "haircut" on what they are owed.

BC Partners was forced to pull a planned £1bn Singapore listing in 2011, after 17 of the 20 previous flotations tanked below their IPO listing price. At its peak, Fitness First operated 550 clubs across 20 countries, including 162 in the UK.

Now, despite turnover being resilient, profits have dropped with severe margin contraction. The costs expended by the former management team – who own 18pc of the company - have failed to deliver the promised growth at the time of the £838m acquisition in 2005.

One insider said given the "challenging economic environment" and debt markets the company now needed to focus on "efficiency".